Thursday, August 29, 2013

After an excellent hen do, what better way to commemorate the wedding of some dear friends than to recreate the legendary wedding speech from The Princess Bride in embroidered goodness? Especially given that a reading from The Princess Bride novel featured in their wedding ceremony!

I had originally planned to include some Buttercups and a Dread Pirate Roberts mask in the decorative border, but after much experimenting and practising I couldn't get them looking right and so I decorated it with a spray of little stars instead.

In case you'd like to put on a production of The Princess Bride in your own living room, you can find the script here. Inconceivable!

(Why you keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it means.)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

I found this birds-on-floral-boughs fabric on the remnants stall at Lewisham market (£2/m woo!) It's a lovely pale green, sheer and drapey. It's the kind of fabric I like to wear, but I've never sewn with it before.

I had originally planned to make the tank version of the pattern. I didn't really consider myself to be a tunic-y sort of a person and even while making it I wasn't too sure about whether I would like the result, but I figured this make would be a good opportunity to practise working with a sheer fabric as well as doing French seams. I thought I'd make the dress version and if I didn't like it I'd chop the bottom off to make it a tank.

I hand basted the neckline and arm holes so they wouldn't stretch out (I'm not sure how effective this was though) and I used pre made bias tape as the fabric was so quick to fray that I didn't think it would survive.

I was quite pleased with my French seams and check out my Rorschach-style pattern matching! Oh yeah!

I found the fabric to be a bit tricky to work with. It didn't like being ironed and was really stretchy on the bias. This meant that I didn't get a great finish with the bias tape where the fabric bunched up a bit (the section pictured above was pretty much the only decent part!) I did get a big pucker right in the centre of the neckline which I unpicked and re-stitched, and I'm hoping the rest can be overlooked by donning a distractingly large necklace!

I was a bit surprised to like the tunic length and I have left it as is. Teamed with a strappy vest and leggings/jersey pencil skirt, I wore it often during last months hot weather and was very happy to have something cool and floaty to swan about in!

About Me

Hello. My name is Emily Botterman and I am a London-based shoemaker. I have recently become mama to a Little One, so at the moment I'm thinking I'm more of a non-practicing shoemaker!
I like to have a go at making other things too and this is where I will be documenting my inspiration, projects and processes. Enjoy!
emily(dot)botterman(at)gmail(dot)com

***All images (except for the screen shots) belong to me, Emily Botterman. Please do not use any images from this blog without my express permission and a link back to The Botterman Empire. Thankyou.***